Word: braine
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...Mona Lisa, that enigmatic face will keep prompting new theories from its admirers. Over the past decade, American neurological researchers have suggested that her seemingly disappearing smile is an effect caused by the way the brain processes certain elements of light. There is another possibility that may be hard to disprove: La Gioconda's face is itself a mirror on which the story of our own lives is reflected. Does it make you smile? Sort...
...hardly a secret that taking cocaine can change the way you feel and the way you behave. Now, a study published in the Jan. 8 issue of Science shows how it also alters the way the genes in your brain operate. Understanding this process could eventually lead to new treatments for the 1.4 million Americans with cocaine problems, and millions more around the world...
Though we think about our genes mostly in terms of the traits we pass on to our children, they are actually very active in our lives every day, regulating how various cells in our bodies behave. In the brain this can be especially powerful. Any significant experience triggers changes in brain genes that produce proteins - those necessary to help memories form, for example. But, says the study's lead author, Ian Maze, a doctoral student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, "when you give an animal a single dose of cocaine, you start to have genes aberrantly turn...
Maze's research focused on a particular protein called G9a that is associated with cocaine-related changes in the nucleus accumbens, a brain region essential for the experience of desire, pleasure and drive. The role of the protein appears to be to shut down genes that shouldn't be on. One-time use of cocaine increases levels of G9a. But repeated use works the other way, suppressing the protein and reducing its overall control of gene activation. Without enough G9a, those overactive genes cause brain cells to generate more dendritic spines, which are the parts of cells that make connections...
...ground was ripe for a better pill, and it wasn't long before scientists produced a new, highly targeted class of antidepressants, led by Prozac, which hit the U.S. market in 1987, followed by Zoloft in 1991 and Paxil in 1992. Instead of blanketing a broad range of brain chemicals, the drugs - known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) - zeroed in on one: serotonin, a critical compound that ferries signals between nerve cells. SSRIs provided relief for the same percentage of patients as their predecessors did but were easier to prescribe without risking overdose and had fewer side effects...